The entire Friday of the Austrian Grand Prix was complicated and confusing. After a complicated free practice session to decipher given the plethora of different programs put on track by the teams, a qualifica thrillingwith a nice tight finalbut also with some confusion due to the matter track limits, with the laps of the drivers being eliminated repeatedly. There is a rule, it is the same for everyone and must be respected, but when the problem repeats itself in the same place with this frequency, perhaps it is appropriate to think about some better solution.
Unforgivable Perez
However, if in most cases the drivers have the excuse of not seeing almost anything, let alone if they are inside the white line for a few millimeters or not in a corner that naturally takes you towards the outside, we allow ourselves to be very strict with Sergio Perez. At the end of Q2, Verstappen’s teammate had been asked by radio to “put in a time and that’s it”, and the Mexican went on to set a time just a few thousandths off Verstappen’s best time still ending up outside the limits of the track in the last corner, when in Q2 there is no difference between being first or tenth. If therefore the management of track limits at the last corner is a matter to be reviewed heavily, Perez’s remains a blunder and unnecessary, which eliminates him from Q3 for the fourth consecutive time despite driving the best car of the lot. We’ll see how the Checo weekend goes, why his seat begins to become seriously at risk (and rightly so).
Ferrari and Red Bull in front of everyone
In the Austrian confusion, however, on this Friday we had two very clear elements, namely the Verstappen’s Red Bull as the fastest car of the lot, closely followed by the Ferrarion this day comfortably second strength on the track. The reds confirm that they are very fast on the flying lap, thanks also to one Power Unit which in any case also works well at altitude, when large values of are required couple as in Zeltweg. Absolutely however the leap forward aerodynamically it seems is materializing, although the level of the RB19 is still much higher. Let’s take a look at the comparison data between Leclerc’s lap and Verstappen’s to better understand what we are referring to.
SF23 improved on many fronts
We see that in the first two sectors the differences are absolutely paltry, a matter of a few thousandths in favor of one or the other. Well done Leclerc to put the complicated turn 1 right for Q3, after so many laps in which he suffered in that stretch. The top speeds are similar, as well as acceleration curves appear similar. The Red Bull looked lightly more aerodynamically loadedwhich compensated with the well-known efficiency with DRS openbut also in detached e traction SF23’s response appears to be profoundly improved. The real difference it was throughout the session in the third sector. The very fast downhill corners reward the Red Bull package, thanks to the sum of a high level of downforce e you stability with respect to lateral loadswith a platform that, as we have pointed out several times, in fast corners it has minimal roll movementsguaranteeing the best aerodynamic performance. This was perhaps Ferrari’s weakest point, which remains one step behind the Milton Keynes team, but much closer than in the pastand especially ahead of Mercedes and Aston Martinboth disappointing on this first day.
Leclerc throws it inside in the last two corners and comes close to the feat
Evidently aware of the limit of the car in the last stretch of the track, Charles Leclerc really gave everything in the last attempt, trying to compensate for what the car could not give him. If we look at the data at the end of the lap we see that the Monegasque is gone close to the company: Leclerc leaves the second sector 10 thousandths ahead of Verstappen, and at turn 9 he “throws” the car into the corner, trying to manage a rear that, at that point, no longer wanted to stay on the track. The Monegasque manages to get a better mileage and is one step away from the feat. With the car not stable yet it also enters very fast in turn 10. The SF23, however, at that point becomes difficult to tame and Leclerc must necessarily slightly raise the outgoing foot. Ferrari number 16 remains incredibly even clinging to the track with the front right without infringing i track limits and closes in second place by just 48 thousandths. Note that not only in the last two corners, but throughout the third sector Leclerc struggled with a light rear, which is well appreciated by the accelerator data. The Monegasque’s approach is risky but ultimately correct, who would have been second in any case with a “normal” passage and tried his best on the last lap, still succeeding, even if somewhat funicular, to find a great time and a beautiful front row for Sunday’s race. To underline that Verstappen’s first lap in Q3 would not have been enough to the Dutchman to get the pole position, and this confirms that the battle on the track was real and tight until the end.
Race passes and degradation to be discovered
However, the weekend still has a lot to say. We will continue with another qualification and with the sprintmaybe in much more adverse weather conditions, to then return to the race on Sunday when the heat should return. If so, the race could turn out very interesting to evaluate under the front step e degradationsince we have seen that with high temperatures the tire management it was far from simple for everyone. The next sessions are expected to be full of ideas. For example the McLaren seems to have made a real “quantum leap”, but needs to confirmationswhile they appeared very disappointing Mercedes (especially with Russell still out of Q3) e Aston Martin with Alonso even behind Stroll. There may still be many surprises so, we’ll see which this very long Austrian weekend will have in store for us.
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